Carolina Hurricanes Fanatics

Playing out the string. For most teams with no hope of making the postseason, they tend to just play the games. The Carolina Hurricanes are no different from any team in this situation, but we see no quit in them. The Winnipeg game was a fitting way to end the playoff hopes of the Hurricanes as it was a blueprint for the way the Canes season has gone. The Hurricanes dominated play for 2 periods and had a 2 goal lead. But Winnipeg fought back and in overtime, former Hurricane Andrew Ladd took advatage of a Justin Faulk slip in the corner to put one past Cam Ward to give the Jets a 4-3 win. The next night the Hurricanes looked like a team that clearly had spent it all on the ice the night before. Brian Boucher in a rare start allowed 5 goals and Iyla Kovalchuck was the star  of the show in a 5-0 Devils romp that saw Martin Brodeur shutout the Hurricanes.About the only highlight for Canes fans was the jerseys off the players back. So what does Kirk Muller do....get the teams attention with a hard Monday practice before flying off to Ottawa to take on the playoff bound Sens. The Hurricanes had a 2-0 shutout going until Ottawa scored with less than 30 seconds in the game to prevent Cam Ward from getting a shutout as the Hurricanes would prevail 2-1. Then the final home game with the return of two Canes, one loved in Erik Cole and one hated in Tomas Kaberle and Chad LaRose would get the lone goal for the Canes in regulation. Montreal would only get one goal as well and we would go past overtime and into the dreaded shootout which the Hurricanes were 0 for the season. The first four shooters would be stopped and it came down to Erik Cole and Eric Staal, two guys who had great chemisty in the past on the same line. Cole went first and hit the post, much to the delight of the Caniacs. Just when you think the Canes will lose it, Eric Staal steps up and puts one past Peter Budaj to give the Hurricanes shootout win #1 on the 2011-12 campaign and a 2-1 win which guarenteed the Hurricanes at least a .500 season or better.
Now the Hurricanes take on the Florida Panthers in the final game of the season and it will be payback time for the Hurricanes. Florida knocked the Hurricanes out of the playoffs in 2008 on the last day of the season and now the Hurricanes with a regulation win coupled with a Capitals win in MSG over the Rangers will knock the Panthers down to the 8th seed and give Washington the Southeast Division.
I will recap this game in the next edition and look at the Charlotte Checkers and Florida Everblades, the top two Hurricanes affiliates in the postseason play of their leagues. I will continue to do a weekly "EBS" for about a few more weeks and then go into summer hiatus and come back in late September...until next time...keep on tracking the Hurricanes!

Category: NHL

After a very bittersweet and somewhat disappointing road trip, the Carolina Hurricanes have 5 games left in the season, 3 of which are at home. The first game against Columbus to recap wasnt pretty at all. The Blue Jackets played like anything but the 30th best team in the NHL as Steve Mason, who seems to love facing the Hurricanes for some reason and RJ Umberger did some major damage in a 5-1 win which saw Umberger get the hattrick. The loss was compounded the next night by a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the second best home franchise in the league this season, the Detroit Red Wings. The inexplicable thing is the Hurricanes had a 4-1 lead in the second period when disaster struck in the form of the Red Wings picking up their game....by the end of the 2nd it was 4-3 and the Red Wings scored two goals in the final period to win. Then the Hurricanes went to hapless home losing Toronto who hasnt won in 11 games at home and left the Maple Leafs waiting till next year with a 3-0 shutout which was Cam Wards franchise leading 21st of his career passing Arturs Irbe. Tim Brent and Jussi Joiknen would score goals in support of Ward. The Canes eliminated the Leafs from the postseason. Now the attention turns to the final 5 games. Winnipeg is the first opponent of the 5 on March 30th and while the Jets are above .500 right now, the majority of their wins are at the MTS Centre. This is the final of 6 meetings this season and the Hurricanes can earn a split in the season series with a win. Both teams are just about out of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Then on the 31st, a team that the fanbase considers a rival comes to town. The New Jersey Devils are playoff bound and have Iyla Kolvalchuk playing well along with new additions from the trade deadline. The Devils are still fighting for playoff positioning in the tough East so they will come to play. Then the Hurricanes get to travel to Canada one last time to take on the Ottawa Senators who are currently in 7th place in the East but have hot Buffalo and hot Washington on their tail. The Senators have D Erik Karlsson who is the top scoring defenseman in the league and are solid. The final home game of the season will be a matchup of the Canes and former Canes Cole and Kaberle when the imploding Montreal Canadiens come to town. The Canadiens have fired the coach, GM and the special scout has even resigned. The lone bright spot has been the play of Erik Cole who has over 30 goals on the season for the Habs.
The Gale Force Player of the Month has been as clutch as any over the past Month. The Hurricanes immediately started to play better once the newly turned 30 year old Chad LaRose came back to the lineup. He has scored and assisted many goals and his energy has been present. For these reasons, we award the Gale Force Player of the Month for March to Chad LaRose.
Fan appreciation week is here! A Jamie McBain Bobblehead will be given out to the first 10,000 fans at the Jets game. Then the 2012 team poster will be given to all fans at the Devils game and for the first 14,000 fans at the Canadiens game a hat will be given by Chevy. The annual shirts off the Hurricanes players back will happen too...
Well thats all I have for this edition...next time I will preview the Canes last game of the 2011-12 season in Florida and i will look at the Charlotte Checkers AHL postseason chances. Until next time...keep tracking the Canes

Category: NHL

Belief!!! This is the word that you hear from the Hurricanes and the Caniacs after a 4 game winning streak which is in progress that has the Hurricanes finally over .500 and in 11th place in the East, 1 point behind division rival Winnipeg in the standings for 10th. The Hurricanes went to Winnipeg and literaly fought their way back in the 3rd period and when Chad LaRose scored late in the 3rd period, the Hurricanes did something that many teams there havent done! They won 4-3. Then the Hurricanes came back home to take on the Florida Panthers and Eric Staal set the tone early by getting a goal less than a minute into the game. Joni Pitkanen in his first game back since about December scored as well and Staal capped off a brilliant game with a power play goal in the 3rd to give the red hot Hurricanes a 3-1 win. Cam Ward got his second win in as many starts. Now the Hurricanes hit the road to Columbus and Detriot for back to back games on the 23rd and 24th of March and then they take on the Maple Leafs on the road on the 27th of March. Columbus is a team that has no chance of the postseason and superstar Rick Nash is the lone bright spot along with newly acquired former Hurricane draft pick Jack Johnson. The Blue Jackets have struggled with goaltending this season as Steve Mason has not gotten the job done. Speaking of struggling with goaltending, the Hurricanes opponent after the Blue Jackets will be the Red Wings who have 2 goalies out due to injury. Joey MacDonald and Jimmy Howard are out and Ty Conklin of 2006 Stanley Cup Finals fame is in net. The Red Wings have other players out of the lineup as well such as Niclas Lindstrom who may return for the Hurricanes game. Then the Hurricanes take on the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs who have a new head coach since the last meeting and have fallen as fast as the Hurricanes have risen in the Eastern Conference. If the Hurricanes can win these 3 games it will go a long way to keeping the hope alive that they can make a run at the postseason and do the unthinkable. No team has ever been in 15th in their conference as late as the Hurricanes have in the season and made the postseason.
Well thats all for this edition. Next time I will give the Gale Force Player of the Month and preview the remaining games of the season except the final game against Florida. As always...thanks for letting me have my turn and keep on tracking the Hurricanes...

Category: NHL

The Carolina Hurricanes are playing a tough road schedule right now with a single home game mixed in. The Hurricanes played a hard fought 4-2 loss to the NY Rangers which saw Jeff Skinner lose his cool and Biron play well for the sick Henrik Lundquist. Then the Hurricanes christened the newly named PNC Arena with a 2-0 win that saw Chad LaRose become the answer to a trivia question as the first player to get a goal in the new arena and Jeff Skinner would score the other one late in the third as Cam Ward reached a milestone in a style with a shutout. Congrats to him for win number 200!!! Then the Hurricanes got a win over the Minnesota Wild which saw  Drayson Bowman, Brandon Sutter and Tim Brent figure in on goals in a 5-3 win. Brian Boucher got his first win as a Hurricane in the Wild victory... Now the Hurricanes get to face the Winnipeg Jets in Manitoba on Sunday March 18th at 8:30 pm. The Jets have had the Hurricanes number winning all the games there including the preseason. Evander Kane and Blake Wheeler are good and Chris Mason is solid in goal. Then the Hurricanes get to take on the Panthers on March 21st at home. The Panthers are in a dogfight with the Jets and Capitals for the division and playoffs so every point counts for them.
Well thats all for this edition...until next time..keep tracking the Hurricanes!!

Category: NHL

Editors note: Due to me celebrating my 15th wedding anniversary, i was unable to complete this weeks edition in time before the Lightning and Panthers games. I will recap those matchups as well as the ones back to March 3rd in this edition. I apologize for any inconveince this caused anyone.


The Carolina Hurricanes are still fighting hard in the very competitive Eastern Conference playoff race. The first game to recap was the last home game of six against the Lightning and it would be Steven Stamkos in overtime after a very controversial roughing call went against Brandon Sutter who was trying to get out of the way of the goalie but couldnt and that gave the Lightning a 4-3 win after the power play was given. Then the Hurricanes hit the road to Washington and Justin Faulk would provide a overtime winner of his own as Tlusty, Sutter and LaRose would light the lamp for the Hurricanes and give them the win. In keeping with what seems to be the theme of late, the Hurricanes would play the Buffalo Sabres to a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation but then would see Jason Pomminville get one as the Sabres won 3-2. Then the Hurricanes would go to South Florida for 2 games against divisional foes Florida and Tampa and we would see the Hurricanes take a 4-2 win in Tampa as Chad LaRose would seal it while Jeff Skinner would be the star of the game for the Hurricanes with 2 goals. The next night the Hurricanes met the Panthers who lead the division and Jose Theodore would stop all the Hurricanes shots in a 2-0 win which was really a 1-0 game for 59 min. The Hurricanes now take on the New York Rangers who have beaten the Hurricanes all 3 times this season and are in first place in the Eastern Conference
The Hurricanes have played well in the last two months, but facing Henrik Lundquist and Martin Biron has been a tough tall order this season. The Hurricanes then get a home game at a new building as the RBC Center is no more and PNC Arena is here. The St. Louis Blues, with as many points as anyone under new coach Joel Quenneville come to town with Jaroslav Halak and face the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes then hit the road and take on the Minnesota Wild in a 2pm game. Matt Cullen is a familiar face to Caniacs as he is one of the top players on the Wild, who basically are out of the playoff picture right now much like the Hurricanes. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since the opening games of last season and only meeting this season.
The Hurricanes have gotten healthier of late too. Brian Boucher is now back, along with Tuomo Ruutu and Patrick Dwyer is close to returning along with Joni Pitkanen. Chad LaRose came back and has been a difference maker so far since returning with a few goals.
Next time I will preview the Winnipeg road game, the home matchup with the Panthers and the road game in Columbus. Until next time...keep on tracking the Hurricanes...

Category: NHL